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Step by Step, We'll Get There	By : Sasunarufan13 Category: S through Z > Teen Wolf Views: 4674 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Wolf nor profit of it. Jeff Davis owns it.

Chapter List
- 34
- 35
- 36
Author's note: Apologies for the somewhat short chapter, but I wanted to give you guys something after a wait of three weeks. Classes are kicking my arse (early morning and late evening classes really do not agree with me)
Warnings: short scene of violence; suspense
I hope you'll like it! (Despite the shortness of it)
Chapter 35
Stiles didn't really pay attention to it initially, assuming he was merely growing paranoid after the recent events.
It started the evening after Cora's graduation when they had all gathered in a local restaurant to celebrate both Cora's graduation and Stiles having passed his first year with excellent marks. The restaurant was more high end than Stiles felt comfortable with – even whilst being in Beacon Hills – but Talia and Alexander reassured him they would take care of the bill. That actually didn't make him feel better, but he'd basically given up by now to protest. Even if he would pay for his share, they'd most likely give him his money back and he wasn't in the mood for an argument about it.
They were about to start on dessert – Talia grilling him and Derek about which name they were going to choose for their daughter – when the back of Stiles' neck pricked, as if someone was staring very intently at him.
He turned around abruptly, scanning the restaurant and even looking outside to check the street, but he didn't notice anyone suspect. The other diners were all too busy talking with each other and the only person outside was too absorbed in his phone as he walked past the restaurant.
"Stiles, something wrong?" Laura asked curiously, halting her teasing of Cora about a guy in her class who supposedly had a crush on her.
"No, nothing," he smiled and rolled his shoulders, returning to his slice of chocolate and raspberry pie.
He was just imagining things now. The whole crap with Theo and now that creep was making him paranoid, that was all.
The sensation of being stared at didn't stop, however. Nearly every time he was outside for an extended period of time – be it to shop for groceries with Derek, visit his dad at the station or at home, stop by for a quick chat with Scott at the druid's office … - he would get the disturbing feeling that someone was staring at him intently, nearly drilling holes into the back of his head.
The disturbing sensation of being watched never lasted very long – only a few minutes at best. He would have dismissed it as someone just accidentally staring at him while daydreaming but that didn't explain the intensity he felt in that gaze nor why he felt stared at quite regularly. It wasn't every time he went outside, but still often enough that he was becoming quite paranoid.
Every time he turned around to catch the person staring at him, however, he couldn't see anyone in particular acting strangely. That led to him doubting himself, wondering whether he just wasn't becoming a paranoid mess.
He thought of mentioning the creepy sensation to either Derek or dad, but something held him back each time. What was he going to say even? That he sometimes felt like someone was staring at him but that every time he turned around to check, he couldn't see anyone acting suspicious? What would that even accomplish? It would only make them more worried and they were already worried enough with the creep who'd been chasing him down from the university all the way to Beacon Hills – and who'd ended up shooting a kid who'd looked alarmingly similar to Stiles.
He didn't think the creep was doing the staring, though. There was no way that guy would have managed to sneak into Beacon Hills completely undetected, not with the way the deputies were on high alert nor with Peter lurking around and hunting down leads.
If it wasn't the creep, though, who was it then? Or was he making a big deal out of nothing and did the staring just come from people who were surprised to see him pregnant? The warm weather had him forgoing his usual combination of plaids and hoodies, opting for T-shirts instead. Being six months pregnant meant his stomach was obviously rounded by now and nobody could be fooled anymore that he'd just eaten a bit too much; no, it was definitely clear that he was expecting a child now.
So was that it then? Were people staring because they hadn't expected to see him pregnant? If that was the case, then why could he never catch any of them staring at him? No way they were all quick enough to pretend they were interested in something else whenever he whirled around quickly to catch them in the act.
Or was it all really just in his head; perhaps the hormones messing with his mind? He didn't know and that frustrated him immensely.
"Being a tree sounds so easy sometimes," Stiles sighed and waved his hand haphazardly around. "I mean, sure, you've got your own set of problems I suppose, with people trying to steal you or whatever they try to do sometimes, but I feel at this moment I got the short end of the stick between the two of us – no pun intended."
"Did you say something?" Scott asked absently, typing something quickly on his phone.
Probably texting Kira. Rolling his eyes, Stiles snorted, "No, buddy, just talking to the tree here."
"Oh okay, cool," Scott muttered, already entirely focused on his phone.
Derek wanted to have one of his assignments finished by tonight and because Stiles had been bored hanging around the apartment waiting for his mate to be finished, he'd figured he might as well visit the Nemeton again as it had been a while. Leaving home of course meant that he needed someone to accompany him and Scott had had the misfortune of showing up for a short visit at the same time Stiles had been contemplating who to ask and who was actually free to babysit him.
Scott showing up had made the decision rather easy.
Kira – Stiles was going to assume it was her his friend was texting constantly, because it would be weird if the Beta was that focused on his mom's texts – had started texting Scott halfway their trek to the Nemeton. Naturally Scott's attention had immediately zeroed in on his phone, retaining approximately zero percent of what Stiles had been talking about.
The pregnant Omega wasn't really bothered by it; he'd grown used to Scott's short attention span when it came to his girlfriend months before and it was oddly therapeutic talking to the tree instead. It couldn't answer him – he'd freak out if it did – but it still gave off the impression that it was listening to him. He would be concerned about his state of mind that he felt like the tree was listening, but with all the crazy shit that had been going on this past year, the Nemeton listening to him was the least insane part of it all.
Besides, a tree listening to him was nothing compared to that same tree flourishing out of a dead tree stump all because it had felt the presence of another Elemental Creature nearby. If a tree could magically grow that quickly and defend him against enemies – and give him visions to boot – then looking like it was listening to him was the most normal part about it.
"But I guess I should be glad that you're having it easy now, huh? The last thing I need on top of all this shit is someone trying to get to you again and you giving me visions," Stiles continued and huffed. "And hey, at least one of us is safe from freaks." He rested his fingers on the nearest tree branch.
Screaming. So much screaming. Blood pouring down, soaking forest floor. A group huddled together.
Then one by one, branches lashed down, wrapped around someone who was trying their hardest to get away, but it was no use, no matter how hard they struggled. Up they went in the air, disappearing into the tree.
Bones cracking, skin splitting apart, blood spurting in an arch through the air, colouring the sky a brilliant scarlet red …
Stiles snatched his hand away as if the tree itself was on fire and lurched back, staring at the Nemeton. He was breathing harshly, as if he'd just run a marathon, and soon he started shivering, feeling cold even though the sun was still shining brilliantly. The Nemeton's branches just swayed back and forth gently, caressing his arms; if it could produce any sound, it would probably be purring right now.
When one of the branches tickled the right side of his belly, he immediately stepped away; his ears still ringing with the petrified screams he'd been forced to listen to in – whatever that had been.
"Scott, I'm finished here," he announced abruptly, whirling around, ignoring how the Nemeton appeared to reach out to him.
Scott looked up surprised. "Oh, okay. You want to go somewhere else or do you want to go back home?"
Even though he was still reeling, feeling completely unbalanced in a way that had nothing to do with the extra weight at his front, he forced a smile on his face and said fake cheerfully, "Yeah, actually; you mind if we make a quick stop at the Hale manor? I want to talk to Peter about something."
Scott wrinkled his nose. "What do you want to talk about with him?"
"Oh just a question I have about a book he let me borrow," Stiles answered vaguely and started walking away, wanting to put as much distance between him and the tree as quickly as possible.
What the hell had that just been? A vision? About what? It had only shown him the Nemeton apparently killing someone by literally squeezing them to death it seemed. But who? What was the purpose of that? Was the Nemeton threatening him, showing what it was capable of?
He swallowed and quickened his step, paying no attention to Scott grumbling behind him when he nearly stumbled over some roots.
But why would the Nemeton threaten him? Hadn't Deaton said that it had come back alive to protect Stiles? Then again, he wasn't really sure whether the ancient tree was actually threatening him. It had only shown him a person being picked up by the branches – no clue whether that person had been male or female, so maybe it was someone else?
Now that he thought about it – if the Nemeton really wanted to kill him, it would make no sense for the tree to warn him about it through a vision. That would just be stupid. So … was the vision meant to show approaching danger? But when would the danger arrive? He didn't feel the same urgency he had felt during his first vision, so whatever was going to happen, wouldn't happen any time soon, he assumed.
When would it happen then? How was he supposed to know that when nothing in the vision had given him a clue as to when exactly it would occur?
He needed to talk to Peter about this; he seemed to know a lot about the Nemeton and the Hales literally lived in the Preserve – if there was danger lurking around the corner, they needed to know about it before it was too late.
He nodded politely to an elderly couple about to enter the Preserve when he and Scott left the tree line behind them, making their way to Derek's car. Dad had promised him that his Jeep was nearly ready to be cleared for duty so to speak, but until he had his car back, he had to make do with Derek's – which given that it was a Camaro wasn't really inconspicuous but it was either using his or Derek trying to drag him along to buy a new car.
Just as he was about to slip behind the wheel – Derek had been quite clear about the fact that under no circumstances was Scott ever to touch the wheel unless Stiles was in trouble – the back of his neck started pricking. Immediately he whipped around, but to both his growing frustration and ire he couldn't catch the person staring at him. He scanned the tree line, saw the elderly couple meandering down the path and saw three young boys arguing with each other a few feet away from the entrance, getting heated about whether or not they would be bringing their bikes into the woods or not.
Nobody was staring at him.
This was it. He had had it. He was sick and tired of feeling stared at all the goddamn time when he wasn't able to catch anyone. Fuck it, he was going to call in help now.
"Stiles, anything wrong?" Scott looked at him questioningly, briefly turning around to look at the trees as well.
"No, let's go," Stiles smiled strained and barely refrained from slamming the door shut.
Fuck everything. He was done with this shit.
Cora blinked at him when she opened the door. "My brother actually let you outside the house without him?" she questioned lightly. There was some cotton jammed between the toes of her left foot to keep the toes spread as she put green nail polish on them.
Stiles jerked his thumb back at Scott, who was hovering a couple of feet behind him. "Not to worry, I got my guard here with me," he muttered sarcastically. "Is your uncle home?"
She raised an eyebrow. "You want to speak to my uncle willingly?" she asked sceptically and well, he couldn't blame her for that reaction.
He doubted many people outside their family were willing to actually speak to Peter. He didn't have much of a choice, though; Peter was his best option at this point. He didn't sprout vague bullshit like Deaton liked to do – well, at least not as often as the druid did – and he wasn't exactly bound to respect the law like his dad was, which made the older wolf the best person to solve both of his problems.
"Yep, I think he's growing on me," he joked, but his heart wasn't really in it and that probably showed, because her eyebrows knitted together in concern and she gave him a quick once over.
Then she nodded and stepped away, waving him inside. "Yeah, he's in his study, first floor second door to the right."
"Thanks," he smiled quickly before turning to address Scott, "Ehm, you can wait here, but maybe it's easier if you call someone to pick you up. This might take a while and I know you're making plans with Kira."
Scott blushed at being called out like that, not denying it at all, but he still tried to argue, "But how are you going to get home? You shouldn't be alone, remember?"
"It's hard to forget that when everyone keeps reminding me," Stiles smiled thinly, his temper close to flaring up. He didn't want to lash out at his friend, who had done nothing to deserve his temper, but the strange, unsettling vision combined with having been stared at again had left his nerves frazzled and shot to hell and it wouldn't take much for him to explode now.
Cora seemed to sense that, because she ushered him to the stairs and said to Scott, "Don't worry, I can drive him home afterwards; gives me a chance to visit my brother again and annoy him."
Stiles didn't wait to hear Scott's response to that and instead went upstairs quickly, though he had to pause when he stepped on the landing. His baby started kicking him rather fiercely, apparently not appreciating the trip upstairs, and he spent a brief moment rubbing his stomach to shush her, lamenting that he should have asked Derek to join him after all. Whenever their daughter became a tad too active, Derek's voice always managed to calm her down.
Once she'd stopped beating his organs into submission for the most part, he continued his way down the corridor, knocking on the second door on the right.
It was quiet for a while and he was about to knock again, wondering whether Peter had stepped out without Cora being aware of it, when the door suddenly swung open. Peter braced his arm against the doorframe and quirked an eyebrow.
"Well, this is quite a surprise," he drawled; his ice blue eyes briefly flicking down to Stiles' stomach. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your unexpected company this fine afternoon?"
"I need your help," Stiles stated bluntly, not seeing the point in beating around the bush about it.
The older man stared at him for a moment, clearly not having anticipated that blunt request. Intrigue quickly lit up his eyes, however, and he stepped back, allowing Stiles to enter his study.
The walls were hidden behind large bookcases; each one of them filled to the brim with books, the shelves looking like they would crack underneath the heavy weight of the tomes any minute now. There was one window wedged between the towering bookcases, allowing daylight to pour onto the desk underneath it. Only one chair was available in the room and Peter silently gestured at it while he himself leant against his desk.
"I'm curious, what exactly do you need my help with?"
Stiles sat down in the chair, mainly because his legs still didn't feel quite stable after the weird vision in the Preserve. Taking a deep breath, he started, "I think the Nemeton gave me a new vision."
Peter listened patiently, not interrupting him even once as Stiles told him everything he could remember from the vision up until even his brief suspicion that the Nemeton might have threatened him.
"There is no way the Nemeton was threatening you," Peter stated as soon as the younger man stopped talking. "You're bound to it as its Elemental Creature; there's no reason for it to threaten you when killing you would mean killing itself."
"Yeah, that's what I figured after I stopped freaking out," Stiles muttered and rubbed his cheeks briskly. "I just don't get why it showed me that vision now – if it's a vision at all. I'm not feeling the same urgency I had when I got that first vision, so I have no clue when that scene will happen." Some of his frustration slipped through in his voice and the wolf shifter hummed thoughtfully.
"If I had to make an educated guess, I suppose you received this vision so early now because your bond with the Nemeton has strengthened throughout these past couple of months," he said contemplatively. "Because the link between you two has grown stronger thanks to your regular visits, the Nemeton is capable of sending you visions a lot earlier now."
"Yeah, but that doesn't really help with figuring out when exactly the enemy arrives," Stiles said annoyed. "I can hardly spend every day there, waiting for the enemy to show up!"
"In your condition it would be ill advised to await a possible enemy," Peter said calmly, but his eyes flashed a brilliant blue for just a couple of seconds. He smiled thinly. "It'd be rather troublesome if either you or my grandniece landed into some trouble that way."
Shaking off the sight of the brilliant blue colour – he had suspected before that Peter wasn't exactly following the law at times when he was doing his work as the Left Hand, hadn't he? – Stiles riposted, "Fine, but what do you suppose we do then? Just let the enemy march into the forest?"
"Considering the wards around the town, I hardly think they would be able to march into the woods just like that," Peter replied bored. "My sister and I will keep an eye out; I doubt anyone will be able to sneak past both us and the wards."
Stiles supposed he had a point there. "Okay, fine," he said reluctantly and licked his lips. "There's one other thing actually that's been bothering me lately."
"Lay it all on me," Peter said amused, crossing his arms.
His amusement disappearing in a flash when Stiles confessed, "I think someone's been following me around."
The icy tone in his voice could have made the North Pole proud when Peter demanded, "Tell me everything."
AN2: And we're inching closer and closer to the climax of this story …
Please leave a review behind with your thoughts; should you spot any mistakes, please point them out to me.
I hope to see you all back in the next chapter!
Cuddles
Melissa
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